Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2006

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 19111 - 19140 of 22344

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Myths, Stereotypes And Truths: A Critical Look At The Relationship Between Africans And African-Americans., Jennifer Olufemi Salu Jan 2006

Myths, Stereotypes And Truths: A Critical Look At The Relationship Between Africans And African-Americans., Jennifer Olufemi Salu

Honors Theses

This study focuses on the relationship between Africans and African-Americans and examines the w ay many members of each group perceive the other. In examining the relationship between each group, the study focuses on looking at some of the myths and stereotypes many Africans, especially African students and immigrants in the United States, have of African-Americans and vice-versa and the impact these myths and stereotypes have on the way members of both groups view each other. This study also focuses on understanding and some of the unique challenges members of each group face in trying to correct mistaken assumptions about …


Beyond The Binary: Rorty Rushdie, Zachary Mori Bonner Jan 2006

Beyond The Binary: Rorty Rushdie, Zachary Mori Bonner

Honors Theses

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is a two-pronged postcolonial critique. Saleem Sinai's metanarrative of emancipation that also overhauls the postcolonial episteme.^ While Rushdie's confrontation of native subjectivity and the epistemic structures that inhibit the native's agency are plainly rooted in the postcolonial conversation, the major theorists in the field do not offer models of opposition that properly house his intervention. The work of Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak is representative of the trajectory of the strategies of discursive opposition to the employed by postcolonial theory. None of these theorists' metaphors for opposition create sufficient distance from the knowledge …


One-Sided Contracts In Competitive Consumer Markets, Richard A. Posner, Lucian Arye Bebchuk Jan 2006

One-Sided Contracts In Competitive Consumer Markets, Richard A. Posner, Lucian Arye Bebchuk

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

This paper shows that "one-sided" terms in standard contracts, which deny consumers a contractual benefit that seems efficient on average, may arise in competitive markets without informational problems (other than those of courts). A one-sided term might be an efficient response to situations in which courts cannot perfectly observe all the contingencies needed for an accurate implementation of a "balanced" contractual term when firms are more concerned about their reputation, and thus less inclined to behave opportunistically, than consumers are. We develop this explanation, discuss its positive and normative implications, and compare them to those of information-based explanations for one-sided …


Problems With Minimalism, Cass R. Sunstein Jan 2006

Problems With Minimalism, Cass R. Sunstein

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Much of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's work on the Supreme Court embodies a commitment to judicial minimalism, understood as a preference for narrow rulings, closely attuned to particular facts. This preference reflects a belief that at least in adjudication, standards ought to be preferred to rules. In many contexts, however, that belief is hard to justify, simply because it imposes severe decision-making burdens on others and may well create more, rather than fewer, errors. For this reason, a general preference for minimalism is no more defensible than a general preference for rules. The choice between narrow and wide rulings cannot …


Ipcc Model Simulations Of Future Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Chakkrit Reamruk Jan 2006

Ipcc Model Simulations Of Future Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Chakkrit Reamruk

Master's Theses

The coupled atmosphere-ocean model simulations from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007) are used to investigate climate change over Southeast Asia (SEA) in the 2U‘ century. Simulations of the 20th century temperature and precipitation are compared to observations and guide the selection of the most appropriate models for the study of fiiture climate change in SEA. These models are run for both low (Bl), and high (A2) emission scenarios. By 2100, model projections show SEA temperature rising by 1.0-2.1°C for the Bl scenario and 2.1-3.8°C for the A2 scenario. Under A2 and Bl scenarios, the average annual precipitation increases by …


China As A Test Case: Is The Rule Of Law Essential For Economic Growth?, Kenneth W. Dam Jan 2006

China As A Test Case: Is The Rule Of Law Essential For Economic Growth?, Kenneth W. Dam

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.


Burkean Minimalism, Cass R. Sunstein Jan 2006

Burkean Minimalism, Cass R. Sunstein

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Burkean minimalism has long played an important role in constitutional law. Like other judicial minimalists, Burkeans believe in rulings that are at once narrow and theoretically unambitious; what Burkeans add is an insistence on respect for traditional practices and an intense distrust of those who would renovate social practices by reference to moral or political reasoning of their own. An understanding of the uses and limits of Burkean minimalism helps to illuminate a number of current debates, including those involving substantive due process, the Establishment Clause, and the power of the President to protect national security. Burkean minimalists oppose, and …


The Effects Of A Pre-Operative Education Program On Anxiety And Cortisol Levels Prior To And Following Surgery, Lou Ann Balducci Jan 2006

The Effects Of A Pre-Operative Education Program On Anxiety And Cortisol Levels Prior To And Following Surgery, Lou Ann Balducci

Honors Theses

Evidence suggests that lower levels of stress may negatively impact the healing process and tissue repair after surgery. The purpose of the investigation was to assess the effectiveness of a pre-operative educational program on reducing pre-operative and post¬ operative anxiety levels for patients having orthopedic surgery. Three subjects volunteered to participate in this study. The State Anxiety Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale questionnaires all showed that Subject 1 (treatment subject) did not have the highest anxiety or stress levels. In addition. cortisol levels were lower in Subject 1. Furthermore, Subject 1 was the most confident …


What Is Dilution, Anyway?, Stacey Dogan Jan 2006

What Is Dilution, Anyway?, Stacey Dogan

Faculty Scholarship

Ever since the Supreme Court decided Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. in 2003, an amendment to the Federal Trademark Dilution Act (“FTDA”) has appeared inevitable. Congress almost certainly meant to adopt a “likelihood of dilution” standard in the original statute, and the 2006 revisions correct its sloppy drafting. Substituting a “likelihood of dilution” standard for “actual dilution,” however, does not resolve a deeper philosophical question that has always lurked in the dilution debate: what is dilution, and how does one prove or disprove its probability? The statutory definition notwithstanding, this issue remains largely unanswered, leaving the courts with the …


China And The Human Right To Health: Selective Adaptation And Treaty Compliance, Pitman B. Potter Jan 2006

China And The Human Right To Health: Selective Adaptation And Treaty Compliance, Pitman B. Potter

All Faculty Publications

The international community has devoted considerable energy to dialogue and exchanges with China on issues of treaty compliance in areas of trade and human rights, and while many improvements are evident in China’s legal regimes for trade and human rights, problems remain. Further, academic and policy discourses on China’s trade and human rights policy and practice are all too often conflicted by normative differences and illusions about them. The paradigm of “selective adaptation” offers a potential solution by examining compliance with international trade and human rights treaties by reference to the interplay between normative systems associated with international rule regimes …


Assessing Risk For Violent Recidivism: A Comparison Of The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised And The Child And Adolescent Taxon Scale When Calculating Violence Risk Appraisal Guide Scores, Joseph Calvin Bolton Iii Jan 2006

Assessing Risk For Violent Recidivism: A Comparison Of The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised And The Child And Adolescent Taxon Scale When Calculating Violence Risk Appraisal Guide Scores, Joseph Calvin Bolton Iii

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) is the tool of choice when conducting forensic assessments of risk, and consists of 12-items correlated with violent recidivism. One of these items is level of psychopathy, which is normally assessed via the Psychopathy Checklist---Revised (PCL-R). The PCL-R is a 20-item instrument, based on an interview and a review of collateral information, which provides a score reflecting severity of psychopathy. The Child and Adolescent Taxon Scale (CATS) also provides an index of psychopathy, but is comprised of only 8-items. There is no interview associated with the CATS, and items are scored based on retrospective …


Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder And The Process Of Diagnostic Decision Making Between Psychologists And Psychiatrists, Katrin Woodworth Carlson Jan 2006

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder And The Process Of Diagnostic Decision Making Between Psychologists And Psychiatrists, Katrin Woodworth Carlson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PNMD) is included in the DSM-IV (APA, 1994) Appendix A, Criteria Son and Axes Provided for Further Study. Its symptoms overlap significantly with mood and anxiety disorders, but occur in the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and remit by the early follicular phase. Thus, PMDD is a challenging differential diagnosis that relies upon establishing a temporal relationship between symptoms and the menstrual cycle, and it provides an opportunity for examining gnostic decision making processes. A national sample of psychologists (n = 155) and psychiatrists (n = 139) were presented with an Internet web page with …


Psychological Well-Being And Level Of Outness In Male -To -Female Transsexuals, Jeffrey D. Strain Jan 2006

Psychological Well-Being And Level Of Outness In Male -To -Female Transsexuals, Jeffrey D. Strain

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between psychological well-being (i.e., depression, anxiety, self-esteem, gender role congruence) and level of outness in male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals. Hans (1998) stated that a transsexual is someone who, after experiencing intense long-term discomfort resulting from incongruence between their preferred gender and their biological sex, adapts his or her body and behavior to appropriately reflect his or her true gender identity. Participants were 105 MTF transsexual attendees at an annual transgender conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. Participants completed eight questionnaires, including: the Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Attitude Scale, the Openness Scale, the Beck …


The Relationship Of Psychopathy And Social Interest To Prison Adjustment, Ashley Harrison Noble Jan 2006

The Relationship Of Psychopathy And Social Interest To Prison Adjustment, Ashley Harrison Noble

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades, methods used to predict recidivism among the criminal population have improved substantially. Recent research has further identified some specific factors such as psychopathy (e.g. a lack of guilt, egocentricity, and superficial charm) and social interest (e.g. a willingness to accept the responsibility for one's actions, compassion toward others, and contributing to the common welfare) as predictors of recidivism and suggests that these constructs may be useful in predicting prison adjustment as well. The goal of this study was to assess the usefulness of specific measures of psychopathy and social interest in the prediction of prison …


Threatened Egotism, Narcissism, And Identification With Criminal Others As Predictors Of Recidivism, Jeffrey M. Morris Jan 2006

Threatened Egotism, Narcissism, And Identification With Criminal Others As Predictors Of Recidivism, Jeffrey M. Morris

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has challenged the assertion that low self-esteem leads to violence. Narcissists, who typically have elevated self-esteem, may have strong emotional responses to ego threats resulting in increased aggression. This relationship may be important to understand in relation to criminal behavior. Recidivism rates appear to be affected by an interaction of level of self-esteem and identification with criminal others. This study will examine the relationship between self-esteem, narcissism, identification with criminal others, and recidivism. This study included 56 male offenders recruited from a parole office and assessed with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Fleming and Courtney's 1984 Self-Rating Scale, and …


Group Data Communication With M2mi, Kay Cheng Jan 2006

Group Data Communication With M2mi, Kay Cheng

Theses

The Anhinga Project is developing an infrastructure that supports board range of collaborative systems running on small proximal wireless devices in ad-hoc networks. The core of Anhinga Infrastructure is a new method invocation technology called the Many-to-Many Invocation (M2MI). In this technology, every method invocation is broadcasted through the network and all the objects that implement the same method execute it. M2MI is layered on a new network protocol, Many-to-Many Protocol (M2MP), which is designed for broadcasting messages within small wireless devices in Ad hoc network. In this project, I will provide three different design patterns of M2MI-based collaborative systems, …


Integrating Database And Data Stream Systems, Rutul Mashruwala Jan 2006

Integrating Database And Data Stream Systems, Rutul Mashruwala

Theses

Traditionally, Database systems are viewed as passive data storage. Finite data sets are stored in traditional Database Systems and retrieved when needed. But applications such as sensor networks, network monitoring, retail transactions, and others, produce infinite data sets. A new system is under research and development, known as Data Stream Management System (DSMS), to deal with the infinite data sets. In DSMS, Data stream is a continuous source of sequential data. In Object-Oriented languages, like C/C++ and Java, the concept of stream does exist. The stream is viewed as a channel to which data is being inserted at one end …


A Charge Control Model For Iii-V Hemts Using A Self-Consistent Numerical Solution Of The Schrodinger And Poisson Equations, Melissa Manney Jan 2006

A Charge Control Model For Iii-V Hemts Using A Self-Consistent Numerical Solution Of The Schrodinger And Poisson Equations, Melissa Manney

Theses

"With the increasing demand for smaller devices that can perform faster and more reliably there is a need to explore options that allow for this combination in spite of the fact that smaller size tends to lead to a reduction in reliability and overall device performance. High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have proven superior to MOSFETS and BJTs in the areas of voltage and temperature ranges in which they can operate as well as their high breakdown fields, carrier density and velocity saturation. Studying HEMTs and understanding their constraints and how they respond to variations in their makeup and in …


The Impact Of Personality And Affect On College Student's Motives For Marijuana Use., Lindsey W. Hawkins Jan 2006

The Impact Of Personality And Affect On College Student's Motives For Marijuana Use., Lindsey W. Hawkins

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has examined the relationship between motives for drinking and alcohol use. However, less research has been conducted on the relationship between motives for marijuana use and marijuana use/problems. This study attempted to examine what predictors of marijuana use and problems are mediated by motives for marijuana use, Prior research has identified several predictors of marijuana use including psychological distress, expectancies, sensation seeking, and various personality factors. In addition, previous studies have suggested that use-related problems are not merely a function of how much of a substance one consumes, but also one's motivation for using that substance. The current …


Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder: The Effect Of Therapist's Negative Emotional Reactions On Diagnostic Judgements., Keith Mayo Jan 2006

Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder: The Effect Of Therapist's Negative Emotional Reactions On Diagnostic Judgements., Keith Mayo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies suggest that clinicians are prone to bias in diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder(BPD)and that BPD symptoms elicit negative emotional reactions(NER)from clinicians.However,no studies have specifically examined the effect of NER on the diagnosis of BPD.This study examined the decision-making processes used when assigning a diagnosis of BPD,specifically,whether clinicians NER towards patients exhibiting BPD symptoms bias decision-making and result in misuse of the BPD diagnosis.A randomly-selected national sample of 98 licensed psychologists completed an Internet survey in which they read two case vignettes that were designed to elicit NER but were below threshold for a diagnosis of BPD.Participants rated the representatives …


Meeting The Challenge Of Diversity : Ministry And Mission In A Multicultural Milieu, Chadwick L. Short Jan 2006

Meeting The Challenge Of Diversity : Ministry And Mission In A Multicultural Milieu, Chadwick L. Short

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Charismatic Revival And The Mission Of The Church, J. Edward Crenshaw Jan 2006

Charismatic Revival And The Mission Of The Church, J. Edward Crenshaw

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Exploring The Missional Potential Of International Churches : A Case Study Of Capital City Baptist Church, Mexico City, Ernest Eugene Klassen Jan 2006

Exploring The Missional Potential Of International Churches : A Case Study Of Capital City Baptist Church, Mexico City, Ernest Eugene Klassen

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Kitzmiller And The "Is It Science?" Question, Jay D. Wexler Jan 2006

Kitzmiller And The "Is It Science?" Question, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

When Judge John E. Jones, III, a United States District Court judge appointed by President George W. Bush, ruled that the Dover school board's intelligent design (ID) policy violated the Establishment Clause, ID opponents were ecstatic. They had good reason to be. The opinion was a comprehensive and complete victory for ID opponents. The decision held that the policy was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion when viewed both from a reasonable Dover student's perspective as well as from the perspective of a reasonable adult in the Dover community. It also held that the policy was adopted for a religious purpose, …


Extraction And Interaction Analysis Of Foreground Objects In Panning Video, Raja Jain Jan 2006

Extraction And Interaction Analysis Of Foreground Objects In Panning Video, Raja Jain

Theses

In this work, moving foreground objects are extracted from video. The video camera can be either stationary or panning. The motion information extracted from consecutive frames of video is used for object segmentation, and an appearance model of the moving object is created. No assumptions are made concerning the object model, resulting in segmented objects of varying shapes and sizes. Finally, relationships between objects in the image are evaluated toward the goal of higher level understanding of videos.


Europa: A Framework For Writing Reusable Automated Tests For C# Components, Christian Castillo Jan 2006

Europa: A Framework For Writing Reusable Automated Tests For C# Components, Christian Castillo

Theses

One of the main goals of software construction is reusability. Component-based (CB) development is a new paradigm that promises to facilitate the reuse of software elements. The component-based model attempts to create an analogy with computer hardware. The idea is that software applications should be developed by assembling existing components rather than reinventing solutions to problems that have already been solved. In this paradigm, a component consumer is faced with the problem of determining if a given component meets his expectations. Testing the component can help answer this question. The component consumer may have to apply the same test cases …


Vanishing Trials: An English Perspective, Robert Dingwall, Emilie Cloatre Jan 2006

Vanishing Trials: An English Perspective, Robert Dingwall, Emilie Cloatre

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This paper reviews the recent history of civil litigation in England and Wales. While previous work by Professor Kritzer has shown an absolute decline in trials over the last fifty years, with some fluctuation around this trend, this comment suggests that this may now have bottomed out. Given the evidence of a simultaneous, and continuing, decline in the number of claims filed, it may even be the case that trials are, at least temporarily, playing a larger part in the civil justice system than they have for many years. In contrast to the experience in the U.S., these changes seem …


When We Hold No Truths To Be Self-Evident: Truth, Belief, Trust, And The Decline In Trials, Lisa Blomgren Bingham Jan 2006

When We Hold No Truths To Be Self-Evident: Truth, Belief, Trust, And The Decline In Trials, Lisa Blomgren Bingham

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article will explore the relationship between the "vanishing trial" and the changing ways in which we think about truth. First, it briefly overviews how we think about knowing what is true: epistemology and this history of philosophy. Second, it looks to the philosophy of science and history of social science for new theories and methods about how we ascertain and construct meaning and what we believe to be real and true. Third, it examines our changing relation to information in the face of the "information explosion": information is the evidence upon which we reach a conclusion about what is …


Vanishing Or Increasing Trials In The Netherlands, Carolien Klein Haarhuis, Bert Niemeijer Jan 2006

Vanishing Or Increasing Trials In The Netherlands, Carolien Klein Haarhuis, Bert Niemeijer

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In this article, we will address the question of whether something like vanishing trials exists in the Netherlands. This could be the case, as some of the causes of the decline in the number of trials advanced by Galanter are also observed in the Netherlands. ADR is gaining popularity, the costs of court procedures are on the rise, and there clearly exists a development toward "managerial justice."


Vanishing Trial, Vanishing Community - The Potential Effect Of The Vanishing Trial On America's Social Capital, Robert M. Ackerman Jan 2006

Vanishing Trial, Vanishing Community - The Potential Effect Of The Vanishing Trial On America's Social Capital, Robert M. Ackerman

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This essay considers the communitarian implications of the vanishing trial phenomenon. Its language is tentative, because while we now have-thanks to Marc Galanter and his associates-a great deal of useful data on the vanishing trial, we have only some hints regarding its causes, and an even less concrete notion of its likely consequences.' The empirical data unearthed by Professor Galanter and others has debunked a number of myths regarding the litigiousness of our society and the extent to which the courts are employed to resolve disputes. Given the care that has been invested in this research, it would be reckless …